"US says it is on. Maliki Government says it isn’t."
Not very inspiring, are they? Let’s hope the coordination, such as it is, gets better. I also hope the miscaptioned photo at the link, of the American troops of the 2nd ID, is a long lens effort that’s compressing them into each other. Because not spreading out is a sure way for all to get taken out with one RPG or even one grenade.
I linked before to this good essay (with 40 plus comments) by Donald Sensing, but it’s worth doing it again. It answers a good question about Global Warming, one you’re not likely to hear in the doomsday "debate" and furor: What if the warming is a good thing? Rising oceans can’t be good, they say, but they won’t rise in an afternoon, but over many decades, allowing plenty of time to build Dutch-like dikes, for one thing. But what if the warming produced more arable land in the Third World, helping them to feed themselves better than they do now? What if, in other words, Global Warming is a good thing?
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Weather/Climate
Tagged Donald Sensing, global warming
Checking in with Mystic Chords now and then to play his latest jazz video, gradually got me to thinking about our family legend, my uncle by marriage, the late big band and jazz drummer Don Lamond. He played with Woody Herman’s big bands in the 1940s, then in the 1950s with be-bop artists like Charlie Parker.
"Lamond developed a reputation as an innovative, bebop-oriented drummer, and he can be heard on several classic bebop recordings, including Charlie Parker’s ‘Relaxin’ at Camarillo,’ Serge Chaloff’s ‘Blue Serge," and guitarist Johnny Smith’s ‘Moonlight in Vermont.’"
Later, he played with the studio band of the Tonight Show when Steve Allen was the host. Here’s a YouTube clip from the Tonight Show of Uncle Don in a drum-off with Louis Bellson and Lionel Hampton.
He was married to my mother’s sister for many years. They divorced in the late 1950s, and even word of him dropped out of my life after that. He remarried and moved to Florida in the 1970s, playing with a band at Disney World when it opened. He was still playing there shortly before he died in 2003, at age 82. I was too young to have known him, but he was a family legend–like some musicians, a vaguely disreputable one, and therefore always intriguing.
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Posted in Obituaries, Scribbles
Tagged Charlie Parker, Don Lamond, Steve Allen, the Tonight Show, Woody Herman
Night raid with the Jundi, i.e. the Iraqi army, and Marines, reported by freelance embed Bill Ardolino:
"On the plus side, they’re motivated and brave. Lt. Col. Fisher believes that aggression is a good problem to have, citing the old Marine saying, ‘it’s better to have to reel them in than have to push them out the door.’"
With photos.
Don’t normally get worked up over the Super Bowl. Might next year if Vince takes his Titans there. Also I have friends in Indiana and Illinois, and so hesitate to root for one team or the other. Except for a real good former Longhorn, Nathan Vasher, who plays for the Bears. Vasher was outstanding for Texas, and he’s a good player for the Bears, despite being one of their lowest paid. So I’ll go for the Bears, and hope Nate has a good game. Altho from what I’ve seen of the game so far, in the pouring monsoon in Miami, it would help to have web feet. They even call baseball games on account of rain.
UPDATE Well, they lost, but Vasher had six tackles, four of them solo. I also forgot Texas ex Cedric Benson, a Bears’ running back. Shouldn’t have forgotten him. He might have helped get the Bears a win if he hadn’t left the game in the first quarter with a twisted ankle. He was the only one likely to break a regrettable stat: no former Longhorn has ever made a touchdown in a Super Bowl.
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Posted in Texas Football
Tagged Chicago Bears, Nathan Vasher, Super Bowl, Texas Football
The surge strategy is set to begin in Baghdad even as a market cleans up after a horrific bombing:
"There was notable deployment of Iraqi army units and armored vehicles on the streets yesterday. I saw one of those armored units establish battle positions at one of the important intersections in Baghdad; soldiers were erecting tents and the vehicles were set in defensive formations. Maybe that intersection will become the border of one of the nine sectors."
Rest is here.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Unresponsive, so far
Invading, however, really isn’t necessary, according to American historian Arthur Herman. Air strikes and naval attacks from the Persian Gulf would be more than enough:
"Almost 90 percent of the mullahs’ oil assets are located either in or near the Gulf. So is the nuclear reactor that Russia is building for Iran at Bushehr. Virtually every Iranian well or production platform depends on access to the Gulf if Iran’s oil is to reach buyers. Hence, the same Straits by means of which Iran intends to lever itself into a position of global power present the West with its own point of leverage to reduce Iran’s power—and to keep it reduced for at least as long as the country’s political institutions remain unprepared to enter the modern world."
Worth a read.
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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops
Tagged Arthur Herman, Bush, Commentary, Cox&Forkum, Iran